Taking action: 2 Inq, 1 Loan

Back in 5/12, I applied for and got a mortgage on a rental property. All this time, I have had 2 HPs on my EX report for this mortgage from the two banks I applied with ever since. All this time I presumed they counted as one HP since they were for the same loan and done on back to back days. But now, I am not so sure.

How can you know how they count? I read a thread on here about needing to know how the HPs are "coded". I am not sure what to look for in this regard. My two HPs that I can see at freecreditreport.com list both inquiries as "All Banks- Non Specific". What should make of this?

Has anyone tried approaching EX or the other two about this type of matter? What do you do to try to find out if mutlple HPs for the same loan truly count as one or two on your report? Is this something you dispute if you feel both inquiries are being counted?

Re: Taking action: 2 Inq, 1 Loan

Unfortunately there is no obvious way to tell how inquiries are coded just by looking at your credit reports. But since your lender pulled your credit twice in two days for a mortgage application, FICO will only score them as a single inquiry. FICO looks at the specifics of the lender that pulls your report to identify applications for Morgages, Auto Financing, Student Loans, etc...

I wouldn't bother contacting Experian, I doubt they would be helpful in answering questions about FICO.

Re: Taking action: 2 Inq, 1 Loan

I just bought my EQ FICO scoring report which states how many inquiries were counted in scoring. By looking at my actual credit report I see that mortgage and auto inquiries were in fact combined. It's not perfect and miscoding can mess things up, but combining auto and mortgage HPs within a time windows as one is in fact done.

Re: Taking action: 2 Inq, 1 Loan

The de-duplication of the inquiries is only within the FICO scoring algorithm so the bureaus themselves have nothing to do with it. The way the reasons for the inquiry are displayed can vary between reports depending on what service the reports are pulled from. I know that there is a request that can be made to the bureaus for "All information in the individuals credit file". It requires a specific request letter and a set payment. Search RobertEG's posts as he has mentioned it on several occasions. I don't know if this will show whether the inquiries are coded as "Mortgage inquiries" or not.

To be honest the impact of inquiry damage is minor when we are talking about the difference between 1 and 2 or 1 and 3. And FICO algorithms only count inquiries for scoring purposes for 1 year although they remain visible on reports for 2. Lastly, there is no provision with the bureaus for disputing the validity or coding of inquiries specifically under the credit laws.

Best financial advice I ever got: "Just imagine what an adult would do and do that."Starting Score:500'sCurrent Score:EQ 701 (FICO) TU 721 (FICO) EX 715 (Quizzle) Goal Score:760 ALL

Re: Taking action: 2 Inq, 1 Loan

Yes, you can't tell just by looking at your reports unfortunately. But mortgage related inquiries will be counted as a single inquiry as long as they fall within the FICO scoring window , 14 - 45 days depending on the FICO model used.

Re: Taking action: 2 Inq, 1 Loan

The basic distinction between so-called "hard" and "soft" inquiries is that softs are only viewable by the consumer, while hards are viewable to anyone who pulls your CR, including for credit scoring.

Thus, when you pull your own CR, all can/should be shown, so that info is not immediately evident.

However, when considering their scoring, only the so-called hards are picked up by the FICO algorithm.

There are two general ways to determine whether others see them.

First, obviously, is to get your hands on a CR pulled by someone else. If they see them, they are "hard."

Second is to get a full, expanded CR that includes the inquiry codes, which ultimately determine who sees them. Most commercial CRs arent too concerned with completeness, as evidenced by the lack of numerous types of information, such as inquiry codes and of showing any reported DOFD for collections and charge-offs.

The CRs available at annualcreditreport.com, established to meet the statutory mandate of one free CR each 12 months, usually tend to be more comprehensive than commercial credit reports.

One could additionally file an FCRA 609(a)(1) request with the CRA, which entitles any consumer to receive any information of record in their credit file at the time of the inquiry. However, such requests require payment of a CRA processing fee, which is currently $11.00.

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